lexiconcentric

Lexiconcentric is a term used to describe an approach in linguistics or language processing that places a primary focus on the lexicon, or the vocabulary of a language. In a lexiconcentric view, the dictionary or the set of all words is considered the central component of language, and other linguistic phenomena such as grammar, syntax, or semantics are understood or derived in relation to this lexicon.

This perspective often emphasizes the role of individual word meanings and their relationships as the foundation for understanding larger linguistic structures. For example, in a lexiconcentric approach to language acquisition, learning new words and their associated meanings might be seen as the most crucial step, with grammatical rules developing as a consequence of generalizing from these lexical items. In computational linguistics, a lexiconcentric model might prioritize a comprehensive and well-annotated lexicon for tasks like machine translation or information retrieval, assuming that accurate word-level information is key to overall performance.

The opposite of a lexiconcentric approach might be one that emphasizes syntactic structures or semantic frameworks as the primary organizing principle of language, with the lexicon playing a more subordinate role. While lexiconcentricity highlights the importance of words, it's important to note that most linguistic theories acknowledge the interplay between lexicon, grammar, and semantics, and the degree of emphasis on the lexicon can vary.